Casa Rita provides a "dignified, safe and more compassionate" place to live for homeless women with children. As a shelter that has a connection to its South Bronx neighborhood, Casa Rita gives preference to women from the local Latina community and selects staff and contractors from the neighborhood. It is housed in a former parochial school that had become an neighborhood eyesore and while keeping a low profile in physical design, has quietly contributed to the stabilization of the neighborhood.